Photo By Daniel Malta | Sgt. 1st Class Geeno Gular, 7th Psychological Operations Group working with Civil...... read more read more
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PUERTO PRINCESA, PALAWAN, Republic of the Philippines - One of the strongest bonds you can find in humanity is friendship and building that relationship is the heart and soul of this year’s Exercise Balikatan.
At the northern most engineering civic assistance project (ENCAP) site, where construction for a new school is underway, Armed Forces of the Philippines, U.S. Military and local Filipino workers of surrounding subdivisions, also known as puroks, meet frequently in order to build those relationships.
“We are big on cooperation,” said Pepito Parba, a council member for Barangay San Juan. “We come together to get what we need.”
Balikatan 2012 (BK12), which officially begins on April 16, is an annual bilateral training exercise that works to build AFP and U.S. military joint planning, contingency operations and humanitarian assistance capabilities. BK12 consists of three events which include a series of humanitarian civic assistance (HCA) projects that began in March 2012 in Palawan, a natural disaster response command post exercise (CPX) and a series of field training exercises (FTX) which all increase joint interoperability between Philippine and U.S. military members.
A barangay is a district made up of puroks and the barangay council members are influential leaders within the local government that handle everything from security to community disputes and are integral to Philippine and U.S. bilateral HCA.
In order to get the schools and other construction projects started as a part of BK12, AFP and U.S. military must get the support and approval of the barangay, which is accomplished by conducting outreach visits to explain the purpose and intent of the civil-military support.
One U.S. Army soldier helping to build this relationship is Sgt. 1st Class Geeno Gular with the Combined Joint Civil-Military Operations Task Force and native of Olongapo City, Philippines. Born in the Philippines and now a United States Soldier, Gular takes great pride in his homeland as well as the work being done here by the AFP and the U.S. military.
“As friends and allies, it’s important to build a strong relationship with each other,” said Gular. “The history with our two countries goes back well over a hundred years and it’s one of the strongest relationships we have because of the history that we share together.”
Working side-by-side with Gular is Philippine Marine Tech. Sgt. Felinor Yhap, Civil Relations specialist for the AFP and native of Puerto Princesa, Republic of the Philippines, also working very closely building strong friendships with the local communities.
”I do the face-to-face communications and it’s important that we foster a good relationship with the local populace,” said Yhap. “Because of what we do here, we’ll show the benefits of the partnership between the AFP, U.S. military, and Philippine people.”
The assistant officer in charge at the northern-most site, U.S. Navy Seabee Chief Petty Officer Louie Alvarez works day after day ensuring the quality of construction activities at all five engineering civic assistance sites in Palawan with his AFP counterparts in hopes that their shared experiences will solidify these relationships for the future.
“We wouldn’t want to be anywhere else,” said Alvarez. “Over here you get to really be a part of the local’s life and [by] doing this they will likely help us in a time of need as we help them now.”
The relationships that are forged and the humanitarian civic assistance being exchanged during BK12 spans across five school improvement projects in Palawan as well as medical, dental and veterinary outreach and education. Local barangay council members, working balikatan, “shoulder to shoulder,” with the AFP and U.S. military have seen the positive impact of these projects over previous exercises and help the local community see the value as well.
“Not only will this benefit the elders, but the children and our future,” said Parba. “We tell our kids that our friends brought us this school so make sure you study hard.”
“The people are grateful for what we are doing but they are the ones who deserve credit because without their help with coordination and their persistence to get some of these projects done, none of it would be possible,” said Gular.
All HCA, CPX and bilateral field training activities are scheduled to be complete by April 27, 2012, which marks the official end of all BK12 activities in the Republic of the Philippines.
| Date Taken: | 03.30.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 04.02.2012 06:43 |
| Story ID: | 86104 |
| Location: | PUERTO PRINCESA, PH |
| Web Views: | 319 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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